Hiroshima to Demolish Former Anti-War Poet’s Home

Here’s this from The Mainichi Daily News: Hiroshima city government has moved to demolish post-war apartment buildings that once housed anti-war poet Sankichi Toge.

More from the article:

From 1950 to 1953, anti-war poet Sankichi Toge (1917-1953) lived at one of the apartments, where he composed one of his representative works while looking out the window at a nearby river. A monument to Toge stands on the apartment grounds.

Hiroshi Maruya, 86, a poet who had close ties with Toge, says he visited Toge at his apartment here once after Toge published in 1951 a collection of poems about the atomic bomb, and the two discussed poetry through the night.

On the demolition, Maruya said, “It’s a shame, but it can’t be helped. The monument has become old and hard for people to notice. I hope the demolition leaves something to let people know that Toge’s apartment was here.”